Do you still celebrate your Irish roots, even if you're not Irish

[Stressedout65]

One of my paternal great grandfathers was Irish & I had an Irish surname until I got married. I even have a piece of clothing made from the Irish family tartan with the family name coat of arms emblazoned on it. I wanted to wear it to work today as we had the option of dressing for St Patricks Day (in England). I chickened out as it felt false & attention seeking. An Irish colleague said I should have worn it if I wanted to as it's part of my Irish roots & heritage. I feel my Irish roots are now so diluted it didn't feel right. How far back do you celebrate your roots & heritage if they're different to what you actually are now?
I do feel drawn to Ireland, it's culture & music. I don't know if this "connection" I feel is exaggerated because I lost my dad a year ago

I find 'feeling X nationality' when its quite distant and you haven't lived there a bit odd. But dont judge people for it.

My mum was Irish. Her mum was, her dad was Greek and met my nana in england. I spent my first years in Ireland as mum moved back.

My dad is another ethnicity all together and i am mixed race. We don't have much to do with dad's side. I don't really feel half South Asian because it hasnt influenced my life so much.

When mum moved back to England most of my time was spent with my Irish family that lived here and definitely has (as I have got older) impacted my view of things and who I am.

I dont consider myself Irish or English. I dont really celebrate either. Though we do have a few Irish traditions. I certainly dont feel greek because my grandad was though, he did influence my life alot as well.

My nationality and heritage is something I really think about only when answering the question on forms.

To be honest, I think alot of people cling on to their long Irish ancestors, because there's a view that being English is a bit shit. Mainly online. Lots of Americans certainly do this.

Yesterday my family exchanged Happy St Patrick day messages. That was about it.

No, Irish is just a tiny part. I'm more English, Spanish and Danish ( did a DNA kit).

My mother is Irish and my father is Scottish, I was born in Scotland but grew up abroad in various countries until settling in England aged 9. I can't explain why, but I feel Scottish. Not remotely Irish. Maybe because it's my birthplace, more likely because my dad is very vocal in his Scottishness and taught me a lot about the culture and country itself and how in his view its the best place on earth.

Yes! My mother is Irish and my father is English. I sound English and I've never lived in Ireland but we visited twice a year throughout our childhood. However, we lived in a strongly Irish community in England, went to a Catholic school and our lives revolved around our Catholic parish and all the annual Saints days and liturgical events that were celebrated throughout the year. In fact, we probably had a more old fashioned and stricter Catholic upbringing than my cousin's back in Ireland!

Some weird views on here about cultural appropriation...

I look at it this way. My grandparents say I'm an Irish girl and I must never forget it and that's good enough for me.

My Irish grandfather went back and forth from England to Ireland for work. Met my grandmother, also over here for work. Most of the family stayed in Ireland. Must their descendants lose their identity, community and family connections because circumstances forced some to go to England for work?

I am Irish and we love anyone with or without links to Ireland celebrating St Patrick’s day. You only have to watch the footage from the White House as proof - we are happy to play along.
There is no such thing as cultural appropriation when it comes to Irish roots!
Enjoy your tartan next year OP.

There is no risk of cultural appr

Nope. I'm not American.

@AffIt

No, it's weird.

I'm from the west of Scotland and have the usual 'mongrel' background of mostly Highland/Lowland Scots, North of England, Northern Ireland etc, but I was born and brought up in Scotland and therefore I am Scottish.

The one rock thrown into my personal genetic pool is that my paternal great grandfather was Romanian: but I never met him, I've never been to Romania, I don't know any Romanian people, and I know fuck all about the place if I'm being honest.

This 'tying your identity to something you're not' is bizarre and smacks of cultural appropriation. Just drink Guinness if you want to, nobody cares.

It’s not cultural appropriation to celebrate your own roots on an appropriate day that celebrates it..

@Sparkl

I’m Irish and I never heard of anyone with ‘family tartan’. I thought that was a Scottish thing. Who knew.

Snap! I just had to Google it. I'm in Ireland and didn't celebrate St Patrick's day except for having a lie in because we have a 4 day weekend this year. I don't think many Irish people would raise an eyebrows at anyone wanting to celebrate their Irish roots though, go for it if you like.

Claiming heritage and a connection to your family history is not cultural appropriation.

My best friend is British Indian, her grandparents were born in India - are you saying her half Indian heritage children shouldn’t identify at all as that ? Shouldn’t wear indian clothes to weddings like their cousins because they’re too far removed from India itself to claim heritage?

In regards to Ireland - so many people moved to UK and the US, so it makes sense there’s a huge amount of descendants in these parts.

I have an Irish born parent and I think it’s odd. There is a weird obsession with Irish heritage

I took @AffIt 's comment about cultural appropriation to mean people who don't really have any connection to Ireland celebrating St. Patrick's Day.

If you're Irish, of Irish descent by a generation or three, live in Ireland, happen to be in Ireland or have an Irish partner/friends who celebrate then by all means go mad for St. Patrick's Day.

If you're English or Australian or Canadian or any other nationality and have no tangible links to Ireland whatsoever then why on earth are you dressed up in green and downing pints of Guinness like your life depends on it? I've never understood it, despite having friends that do this every March without fail.

We don't all do the same thing for Australia Day, or Canada Day, or St. George's Day. They're generally celebrated only by the nation involved; and not even that for St. George's.

I'm Irish, living in Ireland and do celebrate st. Patricks day. I love to see how Irelabds national day is celebrated worldwide.

As for why St. David's day and St. Georges day and celebrated to the same extent - well maybe its to do with your history? Ireland by necessity has a long history of emmigration and those emigrants brought their culture with them. So now we have cities and countries throughout the world celebrating our national day too. Considering my countries size and location off the coast of the rest of Europe I think that says a lot about Ireland. We've never colonised or invaded another country so its easy for us to be generally well regarded by other countries as a result.

I too have never heard of a family tartan. Sounds more Scottish to me.

My parents are Irish and every man jack before them. I have only Irish blood in my veins but I don't celebrate it. It's just a piss up for all nationalities.

I'm Irish, and so is my husband. We celebrated when we lived in Ireland as we got the day off! We live in Oz now and didn't celebrate this year, but I think it's on Friday next year so we might take the day off and go on the piss. My local pub did green beer and beef and Guinness pie though, so it is celebrated here, any excuse really!

Im Irish living in Ireland and it doesnt bother me if anyone says their Irish

And maybe if you wanted St Georges Day and St Andrews Day celebrated in the same way.Do something about it.Start your own parade.

My MiL is Irish, came over in her twenties. My DH calls people glorifying a tenuous Irish connection “Plastic Paddies”. I think he has a point, albeit put crudely.

My mother is Irish. I’m v proud to be ‘half’ Irish and identify as such. I’m often told, to my delight, that I ‘look’ Irish (dark hair / blue eyes). We visit often and I would love to live there.

I was born in the South of England but when I had my DNA tested, the results were 58% Irish (Galway), 14% Danish, 26% South of England and 2% Scottish. I was very happy about that. I think I would still celebrate my Irish heritage even if it went back a few generations, and was, therefore, a little tenuous 🍀

@rainyskylight

My MiL is Irish, came over in her twenties. My DH calls people glorifying a tenuous Irish connection “Plastic Paddies”. I think he has a point, albeit put crudely.

That's how Jimmy Carr identifies, he has Irish parents and an Irish passport but is English.

@BorderlineHappy

Im Irish living in Ireland and it doesnt bother me if anyone says their Irish

And maybe if you wanted St Georges Day and St Andrews Day celebrated in the same way.Do something about it.Start your own parade.

Totally - want to celebrate your national day. Get on and do it.

Saying “I’m Irish” and wearing green or anything else for St Patrick’s Day and feeling affection for Ireland are completely unrelated. St Patrick’s Day is purposefully inclusive and fun, hence all the tourists in Dublin dress up and join in and people and monuments the world over go green.

@sashh
Well surely if he has an Irish passport he must necessarily be an Irish citizen and therefore factually both Irish and British. Of course he can identity with whatever part of his roots he wants, but having a Passport of country X is a bit of a contradiction here.

@EdHelpPls

It's not that I don't like being Irish, I'm just neutral I suppose.

You’re Swiss!

I have an Irish parent, moved to England as an adult after my older sibling was born. So I was born and brought up in England and whilst I recognise that I am half Irish, I feel English because I was raised here. I would feel silly waving my Irish credentials around on St Patrick’s Day, because I don’t feel Irish on any other day.

It was always an excuse for a piss up. Got Irish heritage on both sides (both surnames very Irish) but so diluted now I’d never consider myself Irish at all